Australian media slams India for 'disgraceful lack of fight'

The Australian media on Saturday slammed the Indian cricket team for its "disgraceful lack of fight" in the 4-0 Test series whitewash by Australia and compared the gait of the visiting batting greats returning to the dressing room to a "flag at half-mast".

"India's lack of fight has been disgraceful but Australia's bowling has been as remarkable as the batting of Michael Clarke and the revival of Ricky Ponting," a write-up in 'Daily Telegraph' said .

"Who in their wildest dreams could have imagined this inconsistent team in such a state of transition would completely demolish one of the most credentialed batting line-ups ever assembled?" it asked.

"It was an utterly dominant performance from the home team, with the result never really in doubt. While Australia continued its steady march back up the world rankings, India took another serious hit and strengthened its reputation as a flaky easybeat on foreign soil," it said.

A write-up in 'The Australian' caricatured the Indian batsmen returning to the pavillion after being dismissed to being similar to a flag at half mast.

India down to third place in ICC rankings

The humiliating 0-4 whitewash at the hands of Australia on Saturday resulted in India dropping a rung to third spot in the ICC Test rankings with Michael Clarke's team breathing down their neck just a fraction of a point behind in the table.

India, who entered the series in second place on 118 ratings points, have fallen to 111 ratings points while fourth-ranked Australia have boosted their standing in the Championship table after gaining eight ratings points which put them alongside their rivals, the ICC said in a statement.

However, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men are still ranked above Clarke's men by a fraction of a point. When the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point, India have 111.10 ratings points while Australia are on 110.80 ratings points.

Nevertheless, Australia will have a chance to move ahead of India when they travel to the West Indies in March to play in a three-Test series which will start in Barbados on April 7.

There, Australia will need to win the series by 1-0 or better to achieve the number-three position on the table.

Since December 16 2010, India have dropped from 129 ratings points to 111 ratings points.

In the last 13 months, India drew with South Africa (1-1) in South Africa, beat the West Indies in West Indies (1-0), lost 0-4 to England in England, beat the West Indies (2-0) at home before losing 0-4 to Australia in Australia.

The Test Championship table, unlike the ODI Championship table, is updated only after the end of the series.


Australian Open: Azarenka won the Australian Open female singles title

Victoria Azarenka won her first grand slam title and became the new world number one when she thrashed a disappointing Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final on Saturday.

The third-seeded Belarusian overpowered the 2008 champion to win 6-3, 6-0 in 82 minutes to lift the trophy and become the fourth women's first-time grand slam winner in a row.

"I can't wait to be back next year, I've had an amazing month in Australia. It's a dream true," said Azarenka.

Azarenka came from 0-2 down in the first set to win 12 of the next 13 games for a comprehensive victory, as Sharapova's game disintegrated in the face of all-out aggression from the Belarusian.

Sharapova made 30 unforced errors, while Azarenka played almost flawlessly at times with only 12 errors across the two sets.

"As in any sport you have your good days you have your tough days and you have days where things just don't work out. Today Victoria was just too good," Sharapova said.

"It all comes down to the last two athletes, winner takes it all after all the players in the draw. I've had great wins here and I've had tough losses but there's no doubt I'll be back."

Azarenka won the toss and chose to serve, but she started nervously and dished up two double-faults on her way to dropping the first game.

Sharapova consolidated to open a 2-0 lead and got to 0-30 on Azarenka's next game, but the Belarusian seemed to shake off her nerves and slowly took control............

Pakistan Won the series after England collapse for 72

England suffered one of their most disastrous batting collapses in Test history as they disintegrated against Pakistan's spinners to lose the second Test in Abu Dhabi and with it the series. Pakistan went 2-0 up with one to play as Abdur Rehman, their left-arm spinner, took most of the plaudits with a Test-best 6 for 25.



Complete List of Padma awards 2012 announced

The President of India has approved the conferment of Padma Awards-2012. This year the President has approved 109 awards including one duo case (counted as one) and 14 in the category of Foreigners/ NRIs/ PIOs/ Posthumous. These comprise 5 Padma Vibhushan, 27 Padma Bhushan and 77 Padma Shri Awards. There are 19 ladies among the awardees

The awards are conferred by the President of India at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhawan sometime around March/ April.

Padma Vibhushan


Sl No.
Name
Discipline
State/ Domicile
1.  
Shri K G Subramanyan
Art-Painting & Sculpture
West Bengal
2.    
Late Shri Mario De Miranda
Art-Cartoonist
Goa*
3.    
Late (Dr.)Bhupen Hazarika
Art- Vocal Music
Assam*
4.  
Dr. Kantilal Hastimal   Sancheti
Medicine - Orthopedics
Maharashtra
5.  
Shri T V Rajeswar
Civil Service
Delhi

Padma Bhushan

Sl No.
Name
Discipline
State/ Domicile

Smt. Shabana Azmi
Art - Cinema
Maharashtra

Shri Khaled Choudhury
Art - Theatre
West Bengal

Shri Jatin Das
Art - Painting
Delhi

Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta
Art - Instrumental Music - Sarod
West Bengal

Shri Dharmendra Singh Deol alias Dharmendra
Art - Cinema
Maharashtra

Dr. Trippunithwra Viswanathan Gopalkrishnan
Art - Classical vocal and instrumental music
Tamil Nadu

Ms. Mira Nair
Art - Cinema
Delhi

Shri M.S. Gopalakrishnan
Art - Instrumental Music-Violin
Tamil Nadu

Shri Anish Kapoor
Art - Sculpture
UK*

Shri Satya Narayan Goenka
Social Work
Maharashtra

Dr. (Judge) Patibandla Chandrasekhar Rao
Public Affairs
Germany*

Shri George Yong-Boon Yeo
Public Affairs
Singapore*

Prof. Shashikumar Chitre
Science and Engineering
Maharashtra

Dr. M S Raghunathan
Science and Engineering
Maharashtra

Shri Subbiah MurugappaVellayan
Trade and Industry
Tamil Nadu

Shri Balasubramanian Muthuraman
Trade and Industry
Maharashtra

Dr. Suresh H. Advani
Medicine - Oncology
Maharashtra

Dr. Noshir H Wadia
Medicine-Neurology
Maharashtra

Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty
Medicine-Cardiology
Karnataka

Prof. (Dr.) Shantaram Balwant Mujumdar
Literature and Education
Maharashtra

Prof. Vidya Dehejia
Literature and Education
USA*

Prof. Arvind Panagariya
Literature and Education
USA*

Dr. Jose Pereira
Literature and Education
USA*

Dr. Homi K. Bhabha
Literature and Education
UK *

Shri N Vittal
Civil Service
Kerala

Shri Mata Prasad
Civil Service
Uttar Pradesh

Shri Ronen Sen
Civil Service
West Bengal

Padma Shri


Sl No.
Name
Discipline
State/ Domicile

Shri Vanraj Bhatia
Art - Music
Maharashtra

Shri Zia Fariduddin Dagar
Art - Music - vocal
Maharashtra

Smt. Nameirakpam Ibemni   Devi
Art - Music- Khongjom Parba
Manipur

Shri Ramachandra Subraya Hegde Chittani
Art - Yakshagana dance drama
Karnataka

Shri Moti Lal Kemmu
Art - Playwright
Jammu and Kashmir

Shri Shahid Parvez Khan
Art - Instrumental Music-Sitar
Maharashtra

Shri Mohan Lal Kumhar
Art - Terracotta
Rajasthan

Shri Sakar Khan Manganiar
Art - Rajasthani Folk Music
Rajasthan

Smt. Joy Michael
Art - Theatre
Delhi

Dr. Minati Mishra
Art - Indian Classical Dance-Odissi.
Orissa

Shri Natesan Muthuswamy   
Art - Theatre.
Tamil Nadu

Smt. R. Nagarathnamma
Art - Theatre
Karnataka

Shri Kalamandalm Sivan Nambootiri
Art - Indian Classical Dance- Kutiyattam
Kerala

Smt. Yamunabai Waikar
Art - Indian Folk Music-Lavani.
Maharashtra

Shri Satish Alekar
Art - Playwright
Maharashtra

Pandit Gopal Prasad Dubey
Art - Chhau dance and choreography
Jharkhand

Shri Ramakant Gundecha#
Art - Indian Classical Music- Vocal
Madhya Pradesh
Shri Umakant Gundecha #
Art - Indian Classical Music- Vocal
Madhya Pradesh

Shri Anup Jalota
Art-Indian Classical Music- Vocal
Maharashtra

Shri Soman Nair Priyadarsan
Art - Cinema- Direction
Kerala 

Shri Sunil Janah
Art-Photography
Assam


Ms. Laila Tyebji
Art-Handicrafts
Delhi

Shri Vijay Sharma
Art-Painting
Himachal Pradesh

Smt. Shamshad Begum
Social Work
Chattisgarh

Smt. Reeta Devi
Social Work
Delhi

Dr. P.K. Gopal
Social Work
Tamil Nadu

Smt. Phoolbasan BaiYadav
Social Work
Chattisgarh

Dr. G. Muniratnam
Social Work
Andhra Pradesh

Shri Niranjan Pranshankar   Pandya
Social Work
Maharashtra

Dr. Uma Tuli
Social Work
Delhi

Shri Sat Paul Varma
Social Work
Jammu and Kashmir

Smt.Binny Yanga
Social Work
Arunachal Pradesh

Shri Yezdi Hirji Malegam
Public Affairs
Maharashtra

Shri Pravin H. Parekh
Pubic Affairs
Delhi

Dr. V. Adimurthy
Science and Engineering
Kerala

Dr. Krishna Lal Chadha
Science and Engineering - Agriculture
Delhi

Prof. Virander Singh Chauhan
Science and Engineering
Delhi

Prof. Rameshwar NathKoul Bamezai
Science and Engineering
Jammu and Kashmir

Dr. Vijaypal Singh
Science and Engineering - Agricultural Research
Uttar Pradesh

Dr. Lokesh Kumar Singhal   
Science and Engineering
Punjab

Dr. Yagnaswami Sundara   Rajan
Science and Engineering
Karnataka

Prof. Jagadish Shukla
Science and Engineering
USA*

Ms. Priya Paul
Trade and Industry
Delhi

Shri Shoji Shiba
Trade and Industry
Japan*

Shri Gopinath Pillai
Trade and Industry
Singapore*

Shri Arun Hastimal Firodia 
Trade and Industry
Maharashtra

Dr. Swati A. Piramal
Trade and Industry
Maharashtra

Prof. Mahdi Hasan
Medicine-Anatomy
Uttar Pradesh

Dr. Viswanathan Mohan
Medicine - Diabetology
Tamil Nadu

Dr. J. Hareendran Nair
Medicine - Ayurveda
Kerala

Dr. Vallalarpuram Sennimalai Natarajan
Medicine - Geriatrics
Tamil Nadu

Dr. Jitendra Kumar Singh
Medicine - Oncology
Bihar

Dr. Shrinivas S. Vaishya
Medicine-Healthcare
Daman and Diu

Dr. Nitya Anand
Medicine - Drugs Research
Uttar Pradesh

Late Dr. Jugal Kishore
Medicine - Homoeopathy
Delhi *

Dr. Mukesh Batra
Medicine-Homeopathy
Maharashtra

Dr. Eberhard Fischer
Literature and Education
Switzerland*

Shri Kedar Gurung
Literature and Education
Sikkim

Shri Surjit Singh Patar
Literature and Education - Poetry
Punjab

Shri Vijay Dutt Shridhar
Literature and Education - Journalism
Madhya Pradesh

Shri Irwin Allan Sealy
Literature and Education
Uttarakhand

Ms. Geeta Dharmarajan
Literature and Education
Delhi

Prof. Sachchidanand Sahai   
Literature and Education
Haryana

Smt. Pepita Seth
Literature and Education
Kerala

Dr. Ralte L. Thanmawia
Literature and Education
Mizoram

Shri Ajeet Bajaj
Sports - Skiing
Delhi

Smt. Jhulan Goswami
Sports - Women`s Cricket 
West Bengal

Shri Zafar Iqbal
Sports-Hockey
Uttar Pradesh

Shri Devendra Jhajrija
Sports - Athletics- Paralympics
Rajasthan

Shri Limba Ram
Sports - Archery
Rajasthan

Shri Syed Mohammed Arif   
Sports - Badminton
Andhra Pradesh

Prof. Ravi Chaturvedi
Sports- Commentary
Delhi

Shri Prabhakar Vaidya
Sports-Physical Education
Maharashtra

Shri T. Venkatapathi Reddiar
Others-Horticulture
Puducherry

Dr. K. (Kota) Ullas Karanth
Others-Wildlife Conservation and Environment Protection
Karnataka

Shri K Paddayya
Others-Archaeology
Maharashtra

Shri Swapan Guha
Others-Ceramics
Rajasthan

Dr. Kartikeya V. Sarabhai
Others - Environmental Education
Gujarat

Note* indicates awardees in the category of Foreigners / NRIs/ PIOs/ Posthumous.